Are You Prepared for the Battle?

There are times when it seems like Heaven here — kneeling before Our Lord enthroned on the altar, feeling the peace that only He can give, contemplating His great love that caused Him to come down from Heaven as a little Babe, and hearing the chimes sing out to all the world that a Savior has been born to us.

Then there are times during the summer while working outside on a lovely, blue-skied day when all of a sudden the chimes fill the air with a love song to Our Lady, the Ave Maria or other Marian hymn. At moments like this when for a brief moment all suffering is forgotten and peace and joy fill the heart, it seems that perhaps this is something like it was in the garden of Eden.

But on occasion I must leave the land and ‘go into the world’. The other day I went to get the oil changed. A talk show was on the TV in the waiting room. We don’t have television, and what I heard was shocking; it saddened me greatly. I recalled something I had read that Pope Pius X said, that there is more sin in this age than there has ever been in history, even more than at the time of the Deluge. Many in the world are so accustomed to the sins of our times through frequent exposure through the media, that few are aware of the crisis that engulfs us.

Joseph Terelya wrote in “The Witness” that satan requires two things of his followers: blood (which he gets from abortion) and homosexuality. Out of love, not condemnation, we must speak the truth that abortion and homosexuality are grave offenses against God. Sin leads to misery, and if we love, we do what we can to help all people live in God’s will so that they will know the peace that comes from the union of our will with God’s. We must have courage to speak the truth because in our times we are witnessing a massive campaign to make homosexuality viewed as morally acceptable. The day may come when Christians are accused of committing hate crimes for speaking out against these sins.

Or persecution may come in another form. Many in the world are saying that one religion is just as good as another. But we know that, although other religions contain some truth, God became Incarnate and established only one Church, and that He preserves His Church in truth through the guidance of the Holy Spirit. We know that He has given His Church the great gift of Himself in the Holy Eucharist. The day may come when Catholics are persecuted for standing firm in that belief.

Are we willing to die for our beliefs? Let us pray for the grace to die rather than forsake Jesus, the Truth. Jesus came so that all may be one. He shed every drop of His Blood for love of us. “Take this, all of you and drink. This is My Blood.” He said for ALL to take and drink. He loves everyone. He died to save everyone. He longs for everyone’s love. To be truly one with Him, we too, must long for this unity—long for all to love Jesus, adore Him, receive Him lovingly in Holy Communion and to live in His will. We must long for this, pray for this, make this desire of His Heart the desire of our heart.

In these evil times there are many who do evil. There are many who are influenced by satan, each sin committed giving satan more control in their lives. We can help our brothers and sisters who are in this sorry state. Love them. Pray for them. Beg God’s mercy for them. Sacrifice for them. We can snatch them out of satan’s grasp through our love and prayer. We are all capable of doing evil. Why condemn others? Yes, we can and must condemn sin, but not the sinner. So many of us have been pulled out of the mire of sin! May God do the same for everyone on earth!

God set the example. First, He showed humility when He humbled Himself and became man. We have heard this phrase so often, we tend to yawn rather than respond as we would if we understood the depth of this mystery. Would you become a worm to save a bunch of worms? Hardly. But God lowered Himself even more than we would if we were to become a worm. After all, we would still be creatures as men or as worms. God, on the other hand, is the Creator Who became a creature. There can be no greater humility. Secondly, He showed us love. He died on the Cross for us. He shed every drop of His Precious Blood. Humility and love are what He modeled. That is what He asks of us. Why? Those virtues in us add nothing to God. He asks humility and love from us because that is what makes us great, even Godlike. These virtues expand our ability to receive grace.

God did His part in His Incarnation and death. Now it is time for us to do our part by humbly adoring the One Who created and then, mercifully, redeemed us at the price of His cruel, unimaginably painful death. Our love and adoration of Him Who so humbly remains on earth with us in the Holy Eucharist will flood the earth with grace that will overcome the power of satan.

“You called on me
in the day of your distress.
You honored Me
and I saved you.”